Singapore Changi Airport was crowned the World's Best Airport at the 2013 Skytrax World Airport Awards. It is also a 2012 winner of the National Infocomm Awards (NIA) for the Most Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology in the private sector. The centrepiece of its success is a self-named solution called OneChangi, which uses technology to transform business practices and orchestrate high standards of service. Salesforce.com plays a key role and gives Changi Airport Group (CAG) – the manager of Changi Airport – the tools to deliver a first class customer experience to every passenger.

Service Dilemma

Think about your last trip through an airport. Customer studies show that people generally don't focus on elements of acceptable service. But it's an altogether different story when service slips. That's when the experience is remembered and feelings about quality and satisfaction are cast. Airports can be chaotic and things don't always go as planned (even at the world's best airports). When things go wrong reputations suffer. But what exactly makes up an airport? In the customer's mind it is a single entity, easily blanketed with accusations of bad service. However, in terms of business operations and logistics, an airport comprises a diverse number of standalone entities that perform specific functions vital to overall operation. CAG, for example, spans 350 retail and service stores and 120 food and beverage outlets located in public and transit areas. These are independent businesses. And then there are 200 other partners and agencies – from cleaners to baggage handlers – that work according to their own operating procedures, workflow and goals. However, truly customer centric organisations, like CAG, have no choice but to think like the customer.

Steve Lee, CAG CIO and senior vice president of technology, said the entire airport community responds to customers as one – or "OneChangi" as he likes to say. "Any problem is not yours or mine, but ours. At CAG, one of our core values is we succeed together with our partners."

Bold Vision

The OneChangi vision required a system to match. The airport got down to work with its product and solution providers and deployed a CRM platform that integrated CAG's various channels and backend data sources. Today it functions as the main enterprise solution that underpins everything customer related at the airport.

The platform channels and consolidates feedback collected from airport customers via touch-points including websites, emails, the CAG contact centre and instant feedback systems located across CAG airport terminals. Feedback is wide-ranging and spans everything from retail experiences to washroom cleanliness to perceptions of check-in efficiency. The information is shared with airport partners and tenants, allowing them to process and track feedback that relates to their own operations.

CAG tenants use the same system to track their own service quality standards and rectify issues that are flagged by CAG during inspection, such as shop floor cleanliness. Data collected also provides CAG with an overview of service levels and feedback indicators to help ensure airport shops and restaurants meet service level obligations.

Aligning IT with Business Mission

Joe Chiu, CAG vice president of corporate information technology, said the proposed IT solution had to be aligned with the OneChangi mission. "We wanted every single case to be tracked under a common system. The CRM real-time dashboards and reports show supervisors what's happening as it happens…who did what and whether the case was closed on time. As many CAG staff members are on the move we use iPads, desktops and smartphones to provide uninterrupted system access."

The CRM platform comes with social network tool, Salesforce Chatter. "New customer service operators can ask questions and other operators can share their knowledge and experiences, even though they are located in different terminals," said Chiu

Service Leap

Overall, the OneChangi vision has achieved CAG's strategic goals. Chiu said overall service was more consistent and the customer-facing business practices of major partners and tenants had leapt ahead. In the process, CAG has recorded efficiency improvements across a number of measures, including operating costs, productivity, and service innovations.